Love Story, with Murders: Fiona Griffiths, Book 2

In this second novel in an engrossing series, DC Fiona Griffiths is once again challenged to apply her strange talents to solving a case or maybe it’s two cases. This DC is not like others and this is one of the winning formulas that Harry Bingham gives to the character.With her personality traits being at times psychotic, the first person POV works as we discover more and more about Fiona’s past and about the cases. She has more than murder to handle and she needs to act off-piste to get things done and progress the cases. The violence, in the victim’s remains or the action, is not excessive or overtly gruesome, but some fans of the cosy approach might baulk at it. Fiona doesn’t, of course.At this stage in her policing career, Fiona still has things to learn, often things she recognises and ignores at her cost – but what better way to keep the plot moving and the reader guessing. Her relationship with her fierce boss, DI Watkins, is unexpected and interesting – the secondary characters are all well portrayed, especially the DI. There are sub-plots surrounding some of them and these all add to the story.Fiona’s attitudes are unusual but her flippancy and willingness to think her mind are what makes her unique – and believable. I wouldn’t want her to be ‘normal’ and boring – in fact, people aren’t when we get to know them properly as some of the characters prove over time.The settings from Cardiff to the rural areas of South Wales are all vividly evoked, and through Fiona’s senses, so, we also discover more about her in the words she uses. Having lived in Wales – North Wales – there were descriptions that stirred memories – for instance:“The valley narrows as it climbs. Pasture and snippets of woodland on the valley floor. Green fields pasted as high up the mountainsides as technology and climate can take them. The flanks of the hillside are grizzled with the rust-brown of bracken, humped with gorse and hawthorn, slashed with the rocky-white of mountain streams.”Anybody that has negotiated Welsh roads will recognise the ones that Fiona needs to take on her rural investigation. Throughout, the settings felt realistic as did the way that the plot unfolded. Nothing is ever neat in a Fiona Griffiths case – nor in reality.You never know what Fiona is going to do next, so the reader needs to keep going – and believing in her and the author. Fiona keeps the tension going with her decisions and actions. I was on the edge of my seat as I read, hoping that Fiona would survive – even if I knew there were sequels. That takes good writing to bring about.After a stimulating ride for my head, I am ready for the next book, having recommended the first two without reservation – well, if you want a cosy mystery series look elsewhere. I want more of Fiona and her different approach to policing, to life – and I want to know what is at the heart of her behaviour, to discover more about her past.Story – five starsSetting/World-building – five starsCharacters – five starsStructure – five starsReadability – five starsEditing – five stars

As the first part of the trilogy  Talking to the Dead  makes clear, Fiona is anything but a standard issue policewoman. Her attitude to both danger and personal relationships are (to put it mildly) extremely unusual and Harry Bingham has built a clever and compelling crime novel around a couple of murders and Fiona's ever-present need to unravel own background.It starts with a house clearance and the discovery of something extremely gruesome at the back of the garage freezer. A second murder, discovered a few days later, raises the question of whether the two murders (although forensics confirm there's a significant time difference between the two) are linked. Then throw in an apparent suicide and an engineering company bending some export licensing rules - plus a couple of contract killers, Fiona's martial arts instructor and a cold-blooded (oh yes; Fiona discovers a lot about both hypothermia and arson) attempt on her life - and it becomes extremely difficult to put down the book.Just one word of caution. Although `Love Story, with Murders' is a self-contained crime novel it's an excellent idea to read  Talking to the Dead  first and, after you've finished `Love Story, with Murders', pick up a copy of  The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths , the third part of the trilogy. But don't be confused by that title; Fiona most definitely lives to fight another day. (Please, Mr Bingham, can we have a fourth Fiona Griffiths book?)Read and enjoy...

This was the first Fiona Griffiths story by Harry Bingham I'd read and I'd actually listened to it as a 'Talking Book ' firstly, and I enjoyed it so much that I bought the book along with the books written before this one but they can be read individually anyway. I've now bought all the Fiona Griffiths books and enjoyed them all although this remains my favourite.I know Cardiff and Abergavenny well so an added attraction was being able to see in my mind's eye the places described in the book. Great story .

I have spent my bank holiday weekend immersed in the world of Fiona Griffiths. I am not going to talk of the story or plot line, anything said can be read on the blurb about each book. I can’t say I understand her, I don’t; but I get her. I get her leaps of logic, her way of feeling disassociated from everything and her thoughts on planet normal. Harry Bingham is a great writer; each character is distinct and separate. The books link together, he does not give the reader the patronisation of reminding us of each detail of the previous books, just hints of reminders, a nudge of the brain cells as you would to an old friend who has filed an forgotten an aspect of your past that has become relevant again. I cannot think of a better way to spend a long weekend than in the company of Harry Binghams books.

I got the book "talking to the dead" as a freebie a while ago, finally read it and enjoyed it so much I bought the rest of the Fiona Griffiths stories. This one was every bit as good as I hoped - just enough clues to help the reader almost keep up with the detective, new and intriguing characters, beautifully described scenes that make me glad I don't live somewhere as cold as these characters do. The final twist and turn is a good'un too - great writing. I'll look forward to the rest of the books soon.By the way - a surprising number of typos in the copy that came from Amazon UK only two weeks ago. Still very much worth five stars, though!

Having read about Fiona in the first of the series this adds more information about her. It perhaps spends too long sometimes on her ‘episodes ‘ however which doesn’t enhance the plot which is why it loses a star. The plot is a good one though and moves quickly and her escape is dramatic and well thought out. I don’t want to say more to avoid spoiling the story.